A mismatch between rents and wages in Connecticut

Data Editor

Many renters will find a two-bedroom apartment unaffordable in Connecticut, which has the 8th highest housing wage in the country, according to a study released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The organization estimates that residents must earn $24.72 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Connecticut – or work 103 hours a week at minimum wage. The average hourly wage in the state is $16.21.

The housing wage represents what a worker would have to earn without spending more than 30 percent of income on housing. The hourly wage is calculated using the Fair Market Rent estimate from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

On average nationally, a worker has to make $20.30 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment though the average hourly wage across the country is just $15.42, according to the report.

Andrew is a data editor at TrendCT.org and the Connecticut Mirror. He teaches data visualization at Central Connecticut State University as well intro to data journalism at Wesleyan University as a Koeppel Fellow.
He was a founding producer of The Boston Globe's Data Desk where he used a variety of methods to visualize or tell stories with data. Andrew also was an online producer at The Virginian-Pilot and a staff writer at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He’s a Metpro Fellow, a Chips Quinn Scholar, and a graduate of the University of Texas.